Intervention of the Kings of France in Italy--Policy of Henri II., Henri IV., and Louis XIII.--Judicious Conduct of Richelieu--Treaty of Cherasco--Menacing Ambition of Louis XIV.--Situation of the Court of Savoy on the Death of Charles-Emmanuel--Portrait of Charles IV., Duke of Mantua--The Marquisate of Montferrat and Casale--The Count Matthioly--His political Career--His Character--The Abbé d’Estrades and Giuliani--Proposal to cede Casale to Louis XIV.--Interview at Venice between Charles IV, and the Abbé d’Estrades--Journey of Matthioly to Versailles--He communicates the Project formed to the Enemies of France--How is his Conduct to be estimated? It is almost always unwisely that the Kings of France have intermeddled in the affairs of Italy. Their occupations have never been lasting, because they have been in opposition to the true interests of France, and have violated natural boundary laws imposed upon the two countries by their geographical configurations. Charles VIII. conquered the Kingdom of Naples, but Louis XII. lost it. The latter took possession of the Milanese, but Francois I. was obliged to evacuate it; and by giving up Piedmont, which his father had made himself master of, Henri II. completed this retrograde movement. After having quitted the false path into which his three predecessors had dragged France, Henri II. indicated where the frontiers were to be enlarged, where national conquests were to be made, and what was the true direction to be given to her armies. He took Calais, thus pointing out the road to the Netherlands, and by becoming the master of the Trois-Evêchés he opened to his successors the glorious road to Alsace and the Rhine. While he was so happily inaugurating a new struggle, he was also establishing the basis of a new policy obscurely foreseen by Francois I., but the merits of which certainly belong to Henri II. The latter understood that the most effectual way of contending with the Emperor of Germany, the head of the Catholic party, was to ally himself with the German Princes and the Reformed party; and if he was too early interrupted in his scheme by a violent death--if the minority or the weakness of his children for a long time suspended its execution--it was again undertaken, and we know with what success, by Henri IV., Richelieu, Mazarin, and Louis XIV. To assure the neutrality of Spain, to watch Italy without attempting to establish himself there, to lead all his forces towards the North and the East, and to extend in this direction the frontiers, which were too near to the capital: such was the glorious policy of Henri IV., suspended for a time after his death, but worthily continued by his successors.